“This is crazy” - Kyle Petty stoked to drive Richard Petty’s legendary NASCAR ride at Goodwood Festival of Speed

As the Goodwood Festival of Speed inches closer, former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty announced that he will pilot his father Richard Petty's #43 1970 Plymouth Superbird in this year's event. The Goodwood Festival of Speed, often referred to as the ultimate motorsport festival, takes place every year at Goodwood House, West Sussex, England in late June or early July.

The iconic car was shipped to England from the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, North Carolina so that motorsport enthusiasts could see the iconic car in action during the coveted event, which started way back in 1993. The course of the event includes a hill climb, that is 1.16 miles long and features 9 turns.

Elated at the opportunity, Kyle Petty took to X (formerly Twitter) and exclaimed:

"Here we are at Goodwood. You can see the car. It's in the tent. It's not in the Richard Petty Museum. I'm sure my sister Sharon (Farlow) is going crazy. But here's why it's here. Pan over there. Look at all these people, this is incredible, this is crazy! I'm gonna get to drive it!"

Just like the legendary Dodge Charger that NASCAR banned for being too fast, Richard Petty's Plymouth Superbird proved to be a nuisance for its opponents. The Plymouth Superbird was far superior to the other cars on the field owing to its unique aerodynamic design. Interestingly, the car was forged at a request from Richard Petty himself.

The story behind Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird

Richard Petty, better known as 'The King', is one of the biggest names in the arena of NASCAR today. The 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee holds the records for the most number of wins (200), most number of poles (123), most Daytona 500 wins (7), most consecutive wins (10), and the most number of starts (1185).

Petty also holds the record for the most number of wins in a single season, a feat that he pulled off in 1967 by winning 27 races. The next year, Petty won 16 races, which disappointed him. Therefore, he requested Plymouth to give him a new racecar but unfortunately, Plymouth didn't comply at first.

As a result, Richard Petty opted to race a Ford Torino Cobra. However, Plymouth wasn't ready to let Petty go. Ultimately, they agreed to build a faster car for Petty and invited a former NASA rocket scientist to tell them how they could do so.

Gary Romberg, who worked on NASA's Saturn B-1 booster rocket, modified the body of the car so that it could receive the maximum aerodynamic advantage. Nevertheless, having the beast hit the tracks was still not possible.

According to the rules of NASCAR at the time, a car had to have at least 500 street versions of the same sold to the public to qualify. When the Superbird was finally track-ready, NASCAR said that every entrant had to make one showroom car for every two dealers in the market. Plymouth had no option but to manufacture 1,920 road-worthy versions of the Superbird.

Finally, in 1979, Petty hit the tracks with the brand-new Plymouth and won 18 races. Petty's fellow racer Pete Hamilton, who also wheeled a Plymouth Superbird, won three races that year.